Referee:Chris Foy (Lancashire). Not a great day for
the whistler, giving some strange and inconsistent decisions but credit for
allowing us the advantage for the winning goal.

Attendance:
49,731 including 1,400 Albion followers. A
decent enough turn-out for a post-Europe Sunday game but support for the
side was in short supply for long periods of the game. There were some
inevitable early leavers but nothing like the
mass exodus sometimes seen.

Goals

35
mins
Route one: Tim Krul's kick found Shola Ameobi who leapt well to nod the ball on. It fell
kindly for Demba Ba and his effort was powerful enough to beat Foster who got
hands to it but was unable to . 1-0

Half
time: Magpies 1 Throstles 055
mins
Gera took possession on the Albion left but his initial touch looked heavy enough for
Danny Simpson to close him down. He didn't however and Gera had the time to pick out Lukaku
with a floated cross that the striker headed firmly past Krul. 1-1
90+3
mins
Hatem Ben
Arfa's run was halted but referee Foy played advantage allowing Sammy Ameobi to
pick up the ball and run forward before shooting. His shot was going wide but it
hit Cisse on the back and wrong-footed Foster as it nestled in the back
of the Gallowgate net. 2-1

Full time:
Magpies 2 Throstles 1

We
Said

Alan Pardew said:

"It’s an unexpected two points. If I’m honest, I was gutted last
week that we didn’t get the three at Sunderland, because I felt we deserved
it.

"We didn’t deserve the three points
(today), but we got them. Sometimes a bit of honesty, and a bit of hard
work, gives you the chance to be in the game. We were still in the game.

"(The crowd) knew we were
struggling, and they tried to keep us going. Any kind of flash or moment from
us, they were greeting like it was a European night.

"This Thursday-Sunday’s tough on us
– we haven’t got the hang of it. I make no bones about that. We’re
struggling for training time on the pitch. It looked like we had no rhythm.

“Last year we looked like a rhythmic team
– keeping the ball well and moving teams around – and at the minute we’re
just hanging in there.

"You've got to feel for West Brom today because they have played well.
I thought first half we just shaded it and second half we lost our way a little
bit.

"But our work rate was great and in the end we got a break. To be honest
we haven't had too many breaks this season so we'll grab that with both
hands.

"We've won the game and we'll take that...we perhaps deserved to win at
Sunderland, and today we've got a goal in a game we did not deserve to win but
we have.

"Demba (Ba) appears to have a bit of a nerve problem. It is not a
major concern and I don't think it is an ongoing problem, but the major
question is whether he can make next week.

"Sammy (Ameobi) looks to
provide a little bit of a spark for us. I was searching for some sort of lift
for the team and I thought he was very positive for us. We changed the system a
couple of times and he tried to create for us."

They
Said

Steve Clarke commented:

"It is difficult to take, it certainly wasn't what we deserved. A point
was the least we deserved if not all three.

"I thought from the start of the game we were in a good shape, we bossed the
game and passed the ball really well and created a lot of chances and we didn't
deserve that.

"We played well last week against Man City and got frustrated as we got caught
on a counter, but today it was just a deflection as I don't think the original
shot was going to test Ben Foster."

"It is a sore one to take, but in football these things are sent to test you and
you have to rise above it and I think we showed today, as we have all season,
that we are a good team.

"I have told the players that they should be proud of their efforts, I was proud
of them I thought they put on a great performance and on another day we would
have taken three points but today we don't even get one and we have take that on
the chin and move on.

"We passed the ball well and opened them up on a number of occasions with good
football, it was disappointing Rom missed a couple of chances but he got his
goal but going into last 15 mins there looked like only one team that looked
like they were going to win but unfortunately we didn't.

"The over-riding feeling is disappointment because when you see your players put
in so much effort and play so well and not be rewarded, but we take that
disappointment and we will take positives but at the moment it just hurts."

Stats

Demba Ba scored his 22nd
Premier League goal for Newcastle on his 42nd appearance (39 starts).
As a comparison, Alan Shearer took 26 Premier League games to score
his first 22 for United.

Papiss Cisse scored his first
Premier League goal of the season, ending a 763 minute barren run
that stretched back to his outrageous second striker at Chelsea last May
(583 minutes this season plus 180 minutes last season).

Our Senegalese duo both scored in the same game for the first time since
February when Aston Villa were beaten at SJP - Cisse also coming off the
bench in that game for what was his debut.

It's been a strange old season so far and today's game conveniently put it in a
nutshell. Despite not firing on all cylinders we managed to get a result that
could prove to be crucial for fans, players and staff and while Papiss Cisse
thanked Allah for his goal, everyone else thanked their lucky stars for
the unwarranted win.

Had Sammy Ameobi's late hit-and-hope effort not hit Cisse's back and flown in, then the temptation to recriminate and analyse exactly why victories
were proving to be elusive would have been great, although jammy Ameobi's added
time deflected effort shouldn't stop some honest examination.

It's no surprise that last season's heights haven't regularly been reached but
glimpses have been disappointingly brief so far. Cisse, Cabaye and Ben Arfa are
all still to reach any kind of consistency but all of them are still capable of
doing something that can win a game.

A league goal for Cisse was proving to be something of a millstone around his
neck and that phrase about needing one to go in off his backside came to
fruition in a timely fashion to give United an undeserved victory. Hopefully
the goal and the three points will inspire him and his side to greater things,
starting with a rare and overdue victory at Anfield.

We're not exactly looking for a kick-start to the season but just the odd
misfire here and there can have a significant effect on an engine running
smoothly and there are still some mysterious ignition problems that were
evident against a side who have got off the starting grid sharply.

The result was undoubtedly tough luck on an Albion side who had been the equal of United for most
of the game, despite trailing to a Demba Ba goal. United's top scorer
had already seen an earlier header saved but blasted home after Shola Ameobi
leapt well to nod on Tim Krul's lengthy punt.

Newcastle however failed to build on that positive start and looked nervy whenever the
visitors counter-attacked, with Krul the busier of the two 'keepers. The
Dutchman made two outstanding saves to deny Romelu Lukaku in the first half
when the on-loan striker was clean through on goal. The finishing wasn't great
but Krul did everything right to deny Lukaku.

However, it was no real shock when the 'keeper was picking the ball out of his net ten
minutes into the second half, when that man Lukaku nodded in from close range
after Gera had far too much time and space to chip an exquisite cross that
couldn't be missed.

It was a wake-up call to the home side who had looked very sluggish after the break
but when
Ba limped off with a foot problem and was replaced by Sammy Ameobi, we
continued to find chances hard to come by - and remained vulnerable at the
other end.

Cisse had already replaced Danny Simpson and Gabriel Obertan had come on for Shola
Ameobi so with all three substitutes on the field, the side finishing the game
was almost unrecognisable from the one that started it.

Davide Santon had switched sides, Gutierrez had dropped into defence and with a new
forward line our team had been reshuffled so much it looked like we might
collapse like a pack of cards at any moment - echoing some of the uncertainty
against Brugge in midweek when both Obertan and Shane Ferguson appeared to
believe they were playing at outside left in the closing stages.

Perhaps crucially however, former Magpies coach Steve Clarke opted to
withdraw the dangerous Lukaku and his replacement Shane Long didn't provide the
same threat, seemingly unable to take out his frustration at being left on the
bench with anyone but himself.

Instead of going for the win, Albion seemed satisfied with
just a point and for the last ten minutes allowed United to mount some
late attacks. They invariably broke down with Obertan's passing as wayward as
his crosses from the byline were lethal - twice almost decapitating Cisse with
their ferocity. Had one of them hit him and gone goalwards then Foster would
have had no chance.

Some corners from Cabaye were also ineffective - either low and hard and easily
cleared or high and floated and calmly gathered by Foster - and Sammy Ameobi
and Ben Arfa were finding more blind alleys than open spaces to run into as
three minutes of added time began.

But somehow the black and whites conjured up a winning goal well into the last
minute of those three and referee Chris Foy (who hadn't had a great day up to
that point) can take plenty of credit for allowing an advantage when Ben Arfa
was fouled. That gave Sammy the chance to hit a long range effort that wickedly deflected off
Cisse to send the home fans wild with delight and surprise.

Not only was it a welcome kick-in-the-teeth for a Baggie side who had become
a bit of a bogey side in recent years but it was also a nice hoof in the nether
regions for those who insist on leaving the ground early. Hopefully, the
associates of those who departed without a genuine excuse for doing so,
stuck the knife in and twisted it at every available opportunity for missing
the late drama.

Meanwhile, the away fans were left to contemplate a long journey back to the
Midlands seriously questioning whether the Lord was their shepherd after all.
He certainly seemed to have deserted them before the final whistle on this
occasion....

Make no mistake, this was a crucial victory for Pardew & Co and while the three
points only lifted us above Swansea City into the top half of the table, anything
less than a win would have given our position a decidedly different complexion.
A good week, at least in terms of the scorelines.